Consultants say LEED retrofit would sharply raise cost of Kane County health-department renovation; staff seeks waiver

Jason Dwyer of White and Company told the Kane County Energy & Environmental Committee that an interior renovation of the countyhealth department at 2170 Point Boulevard in Elgin would cover about 35,000 of the buildings 45,000 square feet and that the base scope yields only about 12 of the 40 points required for LEED v4.1 ID+C certification. "So that's kinda what drove us to to do this analysis and determine that it's not very financially feasible for the county just knowing that, you know, resources are scarce," Dwyer said.

Dwyer outlined specific upgrades that would be required to reach the minimum certification, including plumbing fixture replacements (water-efficiency prerequisite and credits), retrofit packages for roughly 20–22 rooftop units to allow variable-speed operation and add VAV boxes and controls, a modest photovoltaic array (he estimated a 50-kW array could be accommodated on part of the roof), higher-MERV filtration and individualized lighting controls. He provided cost estimates for those elements: about $60,000 for plumbing fixtures, roughly $1,800,000 for HVAC/RTU retrofits and PV work, $25,000 for materials sourcing measures, and about $200,000 for indoor‑environment improvements. Dwyer said those additions would push the project toward a roughly 40% increase in cost over the $5,500,000 baseline and could yield a payback measured in decades.

Committee members pressed staff on staging and alternatives. A committee member asked whether upgrades could be implemented in phases; Dwyer said some measures could be staged while others—particularly RTU modifications—are most practical up front. Chair Mavis Bates asked whether the panel could project a future replacement timeline for components that might be replaced later; Dwyer said staff would prepare a short list of sustainable replacement opportunities so future work could be completed in a more efficient, sustainable way.

Staff recommended seeking a waiver of the county's green-building policy for this renovation because the required additions materially change the project scope and cost. The committee gave general consensus to the approach and asked staff to return with formal waiver language and a roll-call vote at the next meeting. Dwyer said the project team intends to go out to bid the following week and aims for public-health-committee review in October and county-board contract approval in November, contingent on the committees guidance.